The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas many second-in-commands were limited to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a document detailing scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a effective way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Although he had little experience in business but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
